Presentation of Tonnelier & Schepens

G. Tonnelier and partner F(rans) Schepens are presented by by G. Devos & S. Vanfraechem (Volle kracht vooruit! Een eeuw Antwerpse Scheepvaartvereniging. Full steam ahead! A century
Antwerp Shipping Federation. Pandora, Ghent, 2001) as steamship owners
as well as insurance brokers and agents for companies (Deutsche
Levante Linie, Russo-Belge Donetz Line, Estrella Brasileira Line). They are forwarding agents, freight contractors and coal and patent fuel merchants as well.
Apparently both men were important figures in Antwerp shipping as Schepens was second vice-chairman for the FMA (the ASF in the book's title) and
Tonnelier, a liberal MP for nine years, was influential in getting a new sea
lock built (in use 1908).
In 1918, on the ASF's first meeting in London - having refused to operate
during the occupation 1914-1918 - had L. Tonnelier as participant and he may
have been the son of G. but confusingly, the company name is
rendered as A. Tonnelier in the ASF's 1925 list of members as reproduced by
Devos & Vanfraechem on p. 52.
I have not been able to find much more on this firm (dates of foundation/end
of activities, for instance, or routes operated). But around 1900 an errand
boy, Alfons de Ridder, briefly worked for the company. Under the pen name
of Willem Elsschot he would become one of the masters of Dutch literature.

Jan Mertens, 25 January 2006

House flag of Tonnelier & Schepens

A brochure withdrawn from eBay Belgium
shows the house flag of Tonnelier & Schepens, anc. (i.e. formerly) G.
Tonnelier (no indication of time period). The flag is divided by a rising diagonal, having the upper (hoist) part red and the lower one (fly) white, and bearing a white shield with a red
upright hand, thumb on the right, in the centre. Moreover the red triangle
bears a white seriffed initial T, the white triangle a red serifed initial
S. It looks as if the shield has been given a black holding line.
The Antwerp city arms and colours have been the obvious source for the flag
design.